Woman found dead in Southeast Baltimore identified

Baltimore police have identified a woman found dead inside her Southeast Baltimore home Sunday, one of four killings detectives are investigating from the weekend.

In addition to the weekend slayings, two men were reported shot Monday about 5:30 p.m. at South Monroe and West Pratt streets. They remained in serious condition Monday night, police said.

Detective Kevin Brown, a police spokesman, said the violence left police "frustrated," but he said the city is "continuing to make progress on the crime fight," noting that with 109 slayings, homicides this year are on par with last year's 20-year low.

"We cannot do this without community help," Brown said, urging residents to provide tips in the open cases.

Police identified Patsy Diane Person, 43, who was found about 11 a.m. inside her home in the 200 block of N. Belnord St. in a largely abandoned block near William Paca Elementary School, north of Patterson Park. She was suffering from trauma to her head and pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Though her death has been classified as a homicide, police said they didn't know of a motive or have any suspects. Person had no criminal record.

Two other people were killed about 2:30 a.m. Sunday: Richard Mills, 46, who was found stabbed in the stomach while sitting in a pickup truck in the 1700 block of Gorsuch Ave. near Clifton Park; and Jerel McFadden, 22, who was shot in his abdomen in the 1500 block of Lester Morton Court, a cul-de-sac near Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Mills' killing occurred in the Coldstream-Homestead-Montebello neighborhood, which has received an influx of plainclothes police since a flurry of violent incidents earlier in the year. Three people have been killed in a stretch of three blocks near where Mills was found, and the Northeast District remains the deadliest area of the city this year.

According to McFadden's Facebook page, he had a young child and lost a relative in a drive-by shooting this year.

The Police Department said the 25-year-old man stabbed to death during a fight downtown, in the first block of N. Charles St. early Saturday, had not been identified pending notification of his next of kin. The downtown area is saturated with surveillance cameras, but Brown said they picked up only portions of the incident.

The two weekend stabbing deaths brought to 24 the number of people who have been fatally stabbed this year, the same number of people killed in that manner in all of last year.